Ginn moves into coaching, not retirement

Date: December 06 2012

Jim Morton

Australia's greatest Olympic rower is hanging up his oars, just don't label him retired.

Triple gold medallist Drew Ginn announced the end of his competitive rowing career on Thursday but he's motivated to have an even bigger impact on the 2016 Rio Games as a leading coach. Ginn makes the switch immediately, filling one of Rowing Australia's (RA) two new head coaching positions, and is already plotting the nation's return to the top of the sport.

Under RA's newly-appointed high-performance manager Chris O'Brien, his own long-time mentor, the 38-year-old will work closely with elite coaches across the country and also oversee the national training program.

Ginn, who took four months to decide his future following a silver finish at the London Games, didn't want a song and dance about retiring, and bristles at such suggestions.

"I don't see myself as retired. That may sound strange, but I see myself as transitioning and taking what I learned and evolving it," Ginn told AAP.

"I haven't stopped and reflected about what I'm not going to do but I reflect a lot in what I take from my learnings in the past 20 years and apply it to this role."

Ginn's first gold came in his Olympic debut at the 1996 Atlanta Games when he joined James Tomkins, Mike McKay and Nick Green in the Oarsome Foursome.

Sixteen years later, he was aiming to become the first Australian athlete to claim four Olympic titles from four separate Games - but his men's four crew finished half a boat length behind the world champion British in the final at Eton Dorney.

In between, the Victorian battled chronic back issues and underwent delicate surgery in both 2000 - which cost him an almost certain gold with Tomkins in Sydney - and 2008, after a gutsy row with Duncan Free in Beijing left him without feeling in his leg.

Ginn rated his golden experience with Free and leading the tight-knit 2012 four - with Josh Dunkley-Smith, Will Lockwood and James Chapman - to silver as the proudest moments of his career.

O'Brien described him as a "perfect fit" for the new role of 'head coach - integration'.

"He has all the experience of a world-class athlete, all the technical and sport science know-how of elite sports plus he is very well respected around the country and the rowing world," he said.

Australia's rowers, ranked second in the world before the Olympics, won a creditable five rowing medals in London but it was the first time in 24 years they failed to claim gold.

Ginn felt "we took the eye off the ball a little bit" by putting too much energy into the 2011 world titles at the expense of the Olympics.

"My motive is to see Australian rowing perform better than what we have before," he said.

"I know that's a broad statement but I do believe we can actually dominate the sport."

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